A bearing having at least an outer ring and at least an inner ring, with at least one of the rings being formed by segments, is known. An example of such a segment bearing is disclosed in German Utility Model No. 73 38 366 U1. In this disclosed segment bearing, the inner ring and/or the outer ring are each made of two semicircular bearing segments. These bearing segments are positioned and fixed in a suitable support housing, thereby resulting in a largely undisturbed operation of the roller bearing. To set and fix the two cooperating bearing segments that together form a ring bearing, screws and screw nuts are provided and are placed between the housing and the bearing segments.
When used in modern wind power plants, bearings whose rings are several meters in diameter and are correspondingly heavy have proven problematic to mount as well as to repair, if necessary. Starting from a certain bearing diameter, the rings become very difficult to handle and are difficult to manage even with special cranes. In some applications of wind power plants, a bearing arrangement with two single-row bearings is used. Sometimes, this bearing arrangement cannot be repaired and replaced directly on the mast. Rather, it is usually necessary to take the plant apart if the bearing arrangement needs to be changed.
The 20-year usable life to which manufacturers and operators of wind plant plants aspire typically cannot be achieved without changing the bearing. Consequently, it is necessary to use expensive cranes if the bearing arrangement needs to be replaced directly on the mast. In addition, the heavy rotor of the wind power plant must be supported against being lifted off due to high wind power during dismantling of the bearing arrangement. This involves relatively high costs.
A need thus exists for a bearing of the type mentioned above which makes it possible to carry out a relatively simple mounting of the bearing, even in ring bearings with very large diameters, and to also set the bearing with relatively great precision. Furthermore, a need exists for such a bearing which can be repaired in a relatively simple manner in the bearing arrangement of large wind power plants.